The invention relates to electric motors and particularly to the manner of installing and connecting the electric leads or terminations supplying power to such motors. While the application has particular application to small and inexpensive electric motors used in various applications such as electric vacuum cleaners, it will be understood that the invention also has application to a wide variety of other electric motors as well as other electrical devices in which it is desired to quickly secure electrical wires. The invention also has particular application to small motors which incorporate a plastic housing somewhat in the form of a clam shell whereby motor assembly is accomplished in a first half of the shell and the second half is clamped or fastened to the first half to close the motor housing.
The invention has particular application to motors incorporating a poke-in terminal construction described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,573 which is owned by the assignee of the present application. The poke-in terminal construction eliminates the earlier prior art necessity of soldering or splicing motor leads to internal motor windings; however, the construction described in the cited patent still necessitates the motor leads being routed within the housing casing to appropriate exit points before closure of the clam shell housing. Accordingly, the manufacturer of the appliance that incorporated the motor was obliged to solder or splice the motor leads outside the motor to the electric wires of the appliance.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a motor and a motor housing which facilitates installation of a poke-in terminal followed by routing of the leads to secure the motor leads positively within the housing without the necessity of splicing or soldering.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a very simple construction which will be very inexpensive to manufacture.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus which will require a minimum of labor to install and connect lead wires to the associated appliance wiring and thus minimize manufacturing assembly time and cost.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate any requirement that separate lead wires be a part of the motor assembly and, more particularly, to allow other appliance wires to be more easily fixed to the motor.
Another object of the invention is to provide a construction in which strain relief is provided for the lead wires.
Still another object of the invention is to provide strain relief for the lead wires which is directed into a plane away from the direction in which the wire is initially inserted.